Germany Still Supports Foreign Nuclear Power

The parliamentary committee for sustainable development voted unanimously at the end of last year to recommend the government stop financial backing for foreign atomic energy projects.

But it is set to receive a letter from Economy Minister Philipp Rösler, rejecting such a strategy, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday.

The change in energy policy only applies to domestic production, the letter says. The government considers it a “sovereign decision of other states to choose a different construction for their own energy policy.”

Chairman of the committee, Andreas Jung, from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, said it was “a gross contradiction, that we are pushing forwards with the change in energy generation while supporting atomic energy abroad.”

The government is currently promoting its policy with the slogan, “High time that something changed”, while Environment Minister Peter Almaier has been talking of establishing an international club of countries stepping away from nuclear energy.